


Rock with you

by Redpipcleaners



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkwardness, College Student Armin Arlert, Eren Yeager is a Little Shit, Eren Yeager is a walking disaster, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Pieck is a supportive friend, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:34:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redpipcleaners/pseuds/Redpipcleaners
Summary: After deciding to go out with your friends, you meet a cute boy named Armin in the club and decide to mess with him. You knew he definitely wanted you from the look in those pretty blue eyes of his, but you hadn't expected to want him so badly.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Reader, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Pieck Finger/Yelena
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	1. Rock your body

**Author's Note:**

> Song: Rock your Body - Justin Timberlake {Slowed/Reverbed}
> 
> https://youtu.be/Sn4hPaLIFew
> 
> (Play it when the "😏" emoji shows up)

Chapter 1: Rock your body

It was Eleven at night and you sat in a chair in front of your mirror. Tonight you were going to the Blue ocean club with Pieck and her Girlfriend Yelena. You'd never been before so you were a bit nervous. Being a Junior in college, you decided that it was time to really get out there and have fun.

2 hours earlier~

You lay in bed on your back scrolling through Instagram on your phone. Just the usual.  
"Hey, y/n?"  
"Yeah?" You turned your attention over to Pieck.  
"We haven't done much together since the semester started, we should have some fun tonight." Pieck said.  
"You got anything in mind Pieck?" You asked curiously.  
"Yeah! Me and Yelena are going to the Ocean Blue tonight. You should come with us!" She suggested excitedly.  
You hesitated. "Are you sure? I've never really been to a club like that, and it's kinda late at night. It could be dangerous."  
"Pshh! I go there all the time! It's fine. Security's good, the regulars are nice, and crime rates in the area are low. Plus if anyone tries us, Yelena can fight 'em off." Pieck said with confidence.  
You still weren't entirely sure about this idea.  
"Come on y/n! You told me that you wanted to get out more, this is the perfect chance to do that. Loosen up a little, have some fun!" Pieck persuaded further, elbowing you lightly.  
You held your hands up in defeat, "Alright alright, you got me. I'll go to that club with you."  
"Great!" Pieck exclaimed.  
"Just give me a minute to get cute though." You told her.  
"Don't worry, we got time, we're gonna be outta here at like eleven." Pieck explained.  
"Cool, I'll be ready by then."

2 hours later~

Now you were all done up. Your hair was styled, you wore a shiny rose gold wrapped mini dress, big gold hoop earrings, a plain pink velvet choker, and gold stilettos.  
You kept your makeup "simple" with minimal concealer and foundation, pink eyeshadow, blush, highlight on the tip of your nose, and clear pink bubblegum lip gloss to make everything pop. Plus pink gel nail polish.  
You looked yourself over, taking pride in your work. (As you should!)  
"Damn, I look fine as hell!" You thought.  
A knock came to your door and Yelena called out to you. "You about done?" She asked through the door.  
"Yeah I'm done, I'm coming!" You answered, grabbing a small pink handbag and your phone as you headed towards the door.

You stepped out into the hallway and met Pieck and Yelena in the Living room.  
"Ooh! You look good bae!" Pieck wrapped you in a hug. Her outfit and hair were very different from yours. She wore her hair straight with silver barrettes, fake lashes, black lipstick, and black nails. She and her outfit consisted of a short, long sleeved white dress and black thigh highs, with fishnet stockings. Kinda plain, but cute. Just like Pieck.  
Uh, is that mean?  
"Thanks, you look great too." You replied.  
Yelena rolled her eyes with a small smile. "So we can get going now, right?" She asked.  
"Yeah, we can." You said.  
Yelena tossed and twirled her car keys in her hand and walked towards the door.

The drive downtown was short and spent listening to music to hype you up.  
"Y'all, save some of the hype for the club, we haven't even got there yet." Yelena half fussed - half joked.  
"Sorry Lena." Pieck apologized.  
Yelena scoffed as she pulled into the parking lot.  
You strutted out of the car feeling like a bad bitch as Pieck rattled off about something to Yelena, who already looked tired.  
The bouncer checked all of your ID's and let you into the club.

It was dark and right now, the lights were shining purple and red. Loud music blasted over the speakers and you started to feel a little overwhelmed. Then Pieck tapped you.  
"Are you okay?" Pieck mouthed.  
Feeling reassured that someone else was by your side, you signed her a thumbs up.  
Good thing you hadn't come alone or you would've panicked.  
"It doesn't look very ocean themed." You shouted to Pieck over the music.  
"What?" She shouted back.  
"I said, it doesn't look very ocean themed!" You shouted louder.  
"Oh! Yeah, the theme's in the drinks!" Pieck explained.  
"Cool! I'm gonna go try some, I'll be right back!" You shouted.  
"Okay, me and Yelena'll be dancing!" She yelled, pulling Yelena by her wrist with both hands.  
Yelena gave you a look of exhaustion before turning away to dance.  
You laughed and shook your head. "Those two are so silly." You thought.  
You walked over to the bar and sat on one of the stools.  
"Um, can I get a menu please?" You asked the bartender. He swiftly handed you one and went back to work.  
"Thank you." You told him.

There was a lot of good looking ocean themed stuff in there, but since you'd never really done too much drinking so you weren't sure what you liked. So you went with something that looked good.  
"Could I get a Blue Whale please?" You asked.  
The bartender nodded and wrote down your order and you handed him your credit card.  
You realized you hadn't even read the ingredients, it just looked good so you ordered it.  
"I guess we'll find out then." You thought.

You watched the bartender whip of your drink, it was fascinating, all of the extra shit that he did. Like a little show.  
Finally the Blue whale was done. It was a carbonated blue drink with edible glitter swirling around it, ice cubes, and white foam on the rim with a blue and white swirling straw. "Thank you!" You shouted to him. He gave you a thumbs up and moved on to something else.  
You reached for your drink, but before you could pull it back, the person next to you suddenly bumped into your arm, shoving you aside and causing you to spill your drink.  
"Ay, what the fuck bro!" You shouted before you even thought about it.  
He turned towards you, looking apologetic. "Sorry, my friend was playing around too much and shoved me into you." He explained.  
"I could replace your drink if you want." He offered.  
"Sure." You said, picking up your cup and setting it at the bar as the young man ordered a new blue whale.  
"At least he's not actually a dick I guess." You thought to yourself.  
You took a glance at him, he was smiling and was clearly talking to someone else.  
He was actually pretty cute. He had short blonde hair with an undercut, shining blue eyes, rosy features, and one of the biggest smiles you'd ever seen. Clearly a little short for a man, but you weren't concentrated on that. He wasn't badly dressed either, wearing two small dangling silver cross earrings, a loose white button down shirt under a big cream colored sweatshirt, black painted nails, light blue skinny jeans, and chunky white shoes.  
And he clearly took care of himself, so that was a plus.  
"Maybe I should talk to him more." You thought, feeling your face heat up already.  
Your drink came and he started on a new one.  
You tapped him with the back of your hand. He turned to you, looking slightly surprised.  
"What's up?" He asked.  
"What's your name, man?" You asked him.  
"Armin, how 'bout you?" He asked.  
"I'm y/n, thanks for the drink Armin." You said, putting on a sweet smile.  
Armin blushed. "Yeah, yeah, no problem. I knocked the first one over after all." He spluttered.  
You moved on, "So, you from around here Armin?" You asked, scooting a little bit closer to him, but not invading his space.  
"Kinda I guess, I'm from the other side of town. Used to live down here though." He said.  
"Oh that's cool! What's it like being a city boy?" You asked, taking a sip of your drink. His nervous energy was really amping you up. You couldn't help but want to pick at him a little bit.  
"Really loud honestly. The lights are on at all times, and it's rare to properly see stars. On the bright side, I get to come to places like this easily." Armin said.  
"You come here often Armin?" You asked.  
"About every other week, it's one of my favorite places to come to, even though I don't really like all the noise. The drinks hit different." He answered, looking more relaxed now, gulping down the last of his drink.  
"Hm. Maybe I should come around here more often. Just don't knock into me again." You flirted.  
Armin's face turned bright red. "I-I'll try not to." He said.  
"But then again, maybe I would mind if I got a drink out of it." You said.  
Armin laughed, throwing his head back putting his arms on his chest. "So you're only in it for free stuff huh?" He joked.  
You shrugged, "Maybe, if you're free with it." You flirted.  
Armin froze with his eyes wide open and his face got even more red.  
You usually went on a date or two first before even the thought of taking somebody home crossed your mind, but with the way this cutie was making your heart jump, you might just let him hit.  
He gave you a flirty smile, recovering from his initial shock. "Could we get two blue whales please." He asked the bartender.

The two of you sat at the bar flirting for a few minutes and getting a little tipsy. You didn't really learn much about him other than the fact that he was also Junior in college, frequented the area, prefers sour drinks, and…  
"So you like to dance?" You asked.  
"Yeah, mostly alone though. Used to dance more in highschool, but I have more to focus on now." Armin explained.  
"Oh, that's cool." You said simply.  
You realized that it was really late and the club had started playing slower songs now. A song started ending and you decided to take things a little further.  
"Can we test your skills on the floor?" You asked him, sliding A bit closer to his face.  
He didn't back away, but he looked very flustered.  
"Wait what?" He asked in a high pitched voice.  
You giggled genuinely, "Gosh, he's super cute." You thought. "I wanna dance with you Armin." You elaborated, cocking your head to the side and batting your eyelashes.  
Surprisingly Armin didn't hesitate like you thought he would and stood up. He looked directly into your eyes and then pulled you into the middle of the dance floor. "So you like to show off, huh Armin?" You teased.  
😏

He smirked at you, "Maybe a little bit." He paused, "Is it okay if we dance close together?" He asked just as a new song started playing. "Sure, I don't mind." You replied. He chuckled and he turned you around, putting his left hand on your hip and his right on your left shoulder. You were surprised at the sudden closeness despite being asked, but you kept going. Swaying with your hips together as the singer said "I wanna rock your body."  
"I guess Armin has good timing." You thought, biting your bottom lip.  
You grabbed his arms, turning yourself back around towards him. You got slightly lower, walking towards him while gracefully circling your hips and looking into his eyes. He moonwalked away from you with his hands in his pockets, grinning and keeping eye contact with you. Then he decided to switch up the dynamic, coming towards you sideways and sliding, rolling his shoulders and hips, and rolling his hand over each other in fists. You copied his movement, smiling back flirtatiously. He stopped and stepped forward, leaning in with his shoulders and rotating his arms, then leaning back, standing at an angle in front of you. You followed suit coming closer to him with every lean forward, looking right into his bright blue eyes.  
"Not bad Armin." You complimented him.  
He nodded, still smiling.  
You turned around again, connecting your hips with his, and he body rolled into you. You backed up on him, swaying your hips to the beat and he followed them, snapping his fingers.  
You turned around to him again, grabbing his right shoulder and swaying your hips on his, looking at him with a smile. He looked back at you, his face flushed from dancing and you could feel the imprint of his hard on pressing into your thigh. You bit your lip, looking at him smugly. He broke eye contact, his face flushing even more. You pressed into him and you could feel his breath on your shoulder as he looked down. You lifted his head up by his chin with your index finger, still swaying with him.  
Boldly, you kissed him on the lips. He gasped in surprise and fell into the kiss, slipping his tongue in your mouth as you pressed into him. He put his hand on your lower back and you lightly popped your right hip out, kissing him harder before finally letting go.  
He panted, "Wow." He said, smoothing back his blonde hair.  
"You're a good kisser Armin." You told him. The song was still only halfway finished, but you decided to walk back to the bar for more drinks.  
"Wait y/n!" He called to you from not far behind.  
"Yeah?" You asked.  
"Could I get your number?" He said shyly, holding the nape of his neck with his elbow high in the air. "You're cool, and I'd like to talk to you more." He explained.  
"Oh, so he wants more?" You thought.  
You sipped your drink and stayed calm, "Sure, maybe we could meet up here to dance another time."  
You put your number in his phone, and titled yourself as y/n with the "💋" emoji next to it.  
You finished off your drink and got up, holding your purse. "I'm gonna meet back up with my friends. Text me if you wanna dance again. 'kay?" You told him.  
Armin seemed totally in shock, but was able to utter a barely audible "Yeah" from his throat.  
You smiled. "Then I'll see you around Armin." You gave him a flirty wink.  
Swinging your hips, you turned away from him, walking confidently back to Yelena's car with a big smile of pride stretched across your face.


	2. Ghosted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sheetz is a gas/fast food place/corner store in my town.

Yelena dropped you and Pieck off at your suite and Pieck gave her a kiss on the cheek as you walked past. Once the two of you were alone, Pieck gave you a knowing look.  
"Soooo, who was that boy you were dancing with." She grinned mischievously. "Seemed to really like you, if you know what I mean."  
You could help but laugh, and shoved Pieck lightly. "Quit playing Pieck. It was nothing much, we were just dancing." You lied.  
Pieck raised her eyebrows and gave you another knowing look. "Sure, I'll take your word for it y/n." She said disingenuously as she unlocked the door.  
You immediately pulled off your shoes and hobbled off to your room. "God damn! My feet are killing me!" You whisper - yelled down the hallway. Pieck did the same except she was laughing at you.  
You rolled your eyes at her and shut your room door. After you took a shower it was 3 in the morning. You plopped into bed and checked your messages, nothing new yet. You honestly felt more disappointed than you thought that you would. Maybe Armin was busy, or asleep. He is a college student after all, he's probably got a class or something later.  
Telling yourself that over and over again, you pulled up your covers and watched tiktoks until 3:35 when you finally couldn't keep your eyes open any more.  
Hopefully Armin would text sometime soon, you actually liked him. Just a little bit though of course.

A week had passed by and you hadn't heard a single thing from Armin, not even a shitty emoji.   
"Damn! Maybe I should've gotten his number too!" You thought.  
"Did he fucking ghost me? I swear to God!" You thought angrily.  
With how eager Armin was, you expected some kind of indication that he still wanted to talk to you. Or had he forgotten about you already.  
You plopped down hard on your bed, bouncing back up a little from the impact.   
"Ugh! This is driving me nuts!" You exclaimed, throwing your arms up towards the ceiling.  
"Still nothing?" Pieck asked calmly.  
She had been sitting on her bed the entire time, crocheting a blue scarf that she had been working for Yelena.  
"Nothing at all!" You told her   
Pieck shrugged. "If he's not gonna text you, don't get hung up over him. There are plenty of cute guys out there y/n." She advised.  
"I know that Pieck, but this one - this one was really cute and sweet and we had real chemistry when we danced!" You told her.  
Pieck cocked her head with her eyes wide open and her lips in a straight line, but only for a split second. "Yeah, I noticed."  
Then she looked up from her scarf and to you with her mouth in a big "o" shape.  
"Wait a minute y/n, do you like him?" She asked.  
You wrinkled up your face and jumped back, seeming almost offended that she would even think that.  
"What! No. I just don't like being ignored." You said.  
Pieck shot her usual knowing look and went back to crocheting. "Okay, I'll take your word for it y/n." She lied.  
"You better!" You said, smiling a little bit.  
"Just drop him if he doesn't call within like three days or something." Pieck suggested.   
"Pshh! I'm not that desperate Pieck. I'll give him two." You said.  
Clearly Pieck thought you were bullshitting, but didn't say anything.

You somehow managed to focus on your classes, but your mind would often wander to your phone. Wondering if Armin had texted you yet. You laid on your bed, barely watching a YouTube video.   
You sighed deeply. "I kinda wanna give him one more day, but is it really worth it?" You thought. You turned over onto your back, feeling your face heating up and tears pricking at your eyes. Then you quickly patted them away.  
"Uh uh! No way am I crying over somebody who ghosted me, I'm do much better than that and-"  
A notification interrupted your thoughts by blasting your ears through your headphones.  
"Ugh, what group chat's about to spam me this time?" You thought tiredly, ready to shut off your notifs. Then you noticed that it was a text from an unknown number.  
Your eyebrows raised so high they looked like they just might end up merging with your hairline.  
"Should I look at this?" You wondered.  
Then the number texted again.  
"Yep, let's look!"  
You opened your texts and quickly opened them.

-Hey y/n it's Armin, you know the one you met at the Blue Ocean?  
-Sorry to text late at night.

"Holy shit, it's him! Wait a minute, why's he only texting me just now." You thought, but you decided to play it cool.

~It's cool, I'm still up. What's going on Armin?

You saw the typing bubbles appear and disappear multiple times.  
"What's taking him so long?" You thought impatiently.

-Not much really.  
-Hey, can I ask you a question?

~Sure

-I know you said to text you if I wanted to dance again, but I honestly just wanna hang out at like, Sheetz or something. Is that okay?

"Hold on, please tell me that's not what room him so long to text me!" You thought with worry.

~What took ya so long to ask me about this?

-.....  
-You did say to text you if I wanted to dance, so I thought that's all you wanted from me I guess.

You facepalmed and rubbed your hand down your cheek, "Oh my God he took it literally." You thought with slight irritation. You were mostly relieved that you hadn't been ghosted though.

~Armin! I was just flirting. 🤣 I really wouldn't have minded if you just wanted to talk or something.

-😳  
-Oh. Guess I should've asked earlier…

"Ugh he's too cute." You thought.

~Probably, but anyway, are we gonna go to Sheetz or not?

-😁 Sure!  
-Do you want me to pick you up or not?

You were fine dancing with him, but to you it was a little early to be spending time with him in a confined space. You barely knew him after all.

And you made out with him….  
And teased him….  
Shit.

"Oh God, I'm such an Idiot!" You thought, looking back on the other night. With good timing as usual, Armin interrupted your thoughts again.

-y/n?

-Oh sorry, I got distracted.   
-I'm close by, so I can just walk there, don't worry about it.

-Cool, see you at 10 y/n!

-Later Armin. 

You turned back over onto your back and looked up at the ceiling. "Hold up, am I going on a date right now?" You joked to yourself, smiling at the thought of, but caught quickly yourself.  
"No way, Armin's just a guy I met at a club and happened to flirt with. Nothing to it. We're just gonna eat unhealthy snacks and shoot the shit. Nothing else." You blatantly lied to yourself.

As you were lost in thought, Pieck must've come back from Yelena's place.

"Y/n, you're smiling! Did that boy finally text you back?" She asked curiously, grinning widely.  
You couldn't help but smile harder. "Yeah he did! Turns out he just took something I said literally and was scared to talk to me." You said sheepishly.  
Pieck shook her head at you, "Oh y/n." She said.  
You rolled your eyes, "Girl shut up! I'll be more direct this time when I see him this time!" You said.  
"So you're gonna be direct about how you totally like him?" She asked.  
"No Pieck. For the last time, I don't like him." You grumbled, trying to get her off your back.   
She shrugged. "Okay then. Have fun on your date!" Pieck said, disappearing down the hall.  
"We're just going to Sheetz, it's not a date." You shouted at her as she ran.  
You rolled your eyes, "That Pieck, so nosy." You thought, half endearingly and half out of slight annoyance.  
"At least it's just a gas station, so I don't really have to dress up." You looked in the mirror, "Maybe just a little bit though.


	3. Gas station snacks

You ended up looking a little too cute for a gas station in your opinion, but it was whatever honestly.   
You wore a pink velvet headband in your hair, small white pearl earrings, an oversized pink sweatshirt, black biker shorts, loose white mid calf socks, and white vans. Your nail polish was a little chipped but still in-tact and today your only make up was mascara, bubblegum lip gloss, and a little bit of body glitter on your cheeks.  
"I guess he's just gonna see me in pink all the time now." You thought as you adjusted your outfit. It was fly though.  
You grabbed your purse, your keys, a pocket knife and your phone, then you said goodbye to Pieck and Ymir (who had barely any Idea what was happening) and told them exactly where you were going.  
"If I'm not back by one, you should probably call the police." You said.  
Pieck gave you a thumbs up and continued typing on her computer. Ymir nodded and went back to watching the TV.  
Then you texted Yelena just in case.  
Finally, you were good to go.  
With a knife in your pocket and walking with purpose, you went down the street.  
"Oh. Maybe I should've asked him to pick me up, walking around alone at night could be dangerous." You thought.  
You kept walking though, and the red Sheetz sign quickly came into view, as well as Armin. You hadn't noticed his face at first since he had a good on, but as soon as you saw him, you felt more able to breathe and you loosened your shoulders.  
He hadn't noticed you yet. He was leaning against the building looking at his phone. He was dressed a little more casually than you, wearing a light blue hoodie, ripped blue jeans, and white air forces.  
"Hey!" You called out to him.  
He looked up and in the wrong direction at first.  
"This way Armin." You said as you walked up to him.  
He looked your way this time, trying to figure out where you were.  
You waved to him and he waved back.  
When you were next to him, he took his hood off and his headphones out.  
"Hey, what's up." He asked you.   
What could you tell him? You really didn't do much at all this week. "Ugh, I'm so lame." You thought, trying not to let that show on your face.  
You shrugged, "Not much, kinda just spent this week going to class and taking naps." You said.  
Armin's eyebrows raised momentarily. "That's surprising. I thought you'd be out dancing or something like that." He said.  
You laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I really don't go out that much. The other night was actually my first time going to a nightclub." You said.  
"Really? You'd never been to a nightclub?" He asked with surprise.  
"No. I've just been to a frat party here and there." You said.  
Armin chuckled, "I'm not sure I believe that, but I'll take your word for it." He said, opening the door.  
"I'm telling the truth I swear." You said.  
Armin smirked. "Mm-hm." He hummed, clearly still not buying it.  
So you rolled your eyes at him and gave up, quickly moving on to get snacks instead.   
You picked up a big bag of some spicy chips you hadn't tried yet, a watermelon bottle pop, and a bottle of sprite.  
Armin was busy filling up a large cup with seemingly every slushee flavor that they had there.  
"You missed any flavors Armin?" You joked.  
"Nope, I got everything!" He said triumphantly.  
You made a face of disgust, "Everything? Even the marshmallow flavor." You said.  
He smiled mischievously, "Especially the marshmallow flavor." He teased.  
"That's nasty Armin." You said, walking towards the cash register.  
He shrugged, taking a sip of the slushee.  
"Is it any good?" You asked as the cashier took your money.  
He shrugged again, "It tastes like a slushee." He said.  
"I'm just gonna assume that means it tastes like shit." You said.  
Armin laughed. "I promise it doesn't y/n, it's just so mixed up the taste isn't really distinct anymore." He explained in his defense.  
"Really? Let me try it then." You said.  
"I just drank out of this though." He said, pointing to the straw.  
"And? You don't like sharing Armin?" You challenged him.  
He smiled and chuckled softly, "You always pick at people like this?" He asked, holding the cup in your direction.  
"Only the ones I like." You flirted.  
He huffed air out of his nose, his cheeks turning red. You took advantage of him being distracted and started gulping down on his slushee.  
"Hey! You can't drink it all y/n! That's mine!" He exclaimed, he wasn't mad but he was holding his drink away from you now.  
You swallowed, "You're right, it does taste like a slushee." You said with a silly grin.  
"Giiirrl…" He said just above a whisper, shaking the juice in his slushee around.  
"You can have some of my soda if you want." You offered.  
"Sure, I'll use it to replace all the slushee you stole." He joked, coming a little closer to you.  
You lightly shoved him back, "To be fair, you did let me have some. You didn't say how much I could get bro." You loopholed.  
Armin turned up the corners of his mouth and rolled his eyes.  
"So you wanna sit in here or should we go outside?" He asked.  
"Here's better, I don't feel like standing anymore." You said.  
"Cool." He turned on his heels.  
You chose a table for two beside the window and sat across from each other. As soon as you started on your snacks, Armin swiftly stole a chip from your bag.  
"Armin!" You exclaimed.  
Armin laughed and tossed the chip in his mouth, but as soon as he did his nostrils flared and his eyes watered. He smacked once and did his best to swallow the chip. He looked like he was about to cry because of his eyes watering and his face being scrunched up. You covered your mouth with your hand, hiding your smile.  
"Eeww. What the hell is this?" He whined.   
You looked at the bag, "Um, it's Takis Xplosion." You said  
Armin took a sip of his slushee. "It's nasty." He complained.  
You laughed out loud. "Aw come on dude, it can't be that bad." You told him, picking out a new chip.

He was right, it was nasty as hell.

You set the bag aside. "Yeah I'm not eating any more of these." You said with dissatisfaction.  
"I told ya so." He said, tipping his cup slightly.  
"Shove it Armin." You said, rolling your eyes. You couldn't help, but smile with it though.  
You decided to stick with the Bottle pop and Sprite (That Armin had already taken half of.)

Armin looked like he wanted to say something to you, but had decided to just smile at you sweetly instead.  
You caught him staring, "What?" You asked, smiling back at him.  
"No-uh-um-nothing" He spluttered, his face quickly becoming bright red.  
You chuckled softly, "Come on, you can tell me. Ease up some." You coaxed him.  
He bit his lower lip and grabbed the nape of his neck nervously with his elbow up like he had at the club before.  
"You, you're really pretty. I just wasn't sure if I'd make you uncomfortable if I told you that." He confessed.  
You felt like your heart was gonna bust out of your chest. "Stupid blondie. What's he so cute for?" You thought, mentally clutching your heart.  
"Aww thanks Armin." You said brightly. Feeling shyer than usual, you clutched your left arm tightly.   
"I think you're pretty cute too." You admitted.  
Armin's face went full on tomato red. He stuttered very hard, trying to say thank you, but he was too flustered to get it out.  
"You don't have to say anything bro, relax some. You're acting like I just proposed to you or something." You teased.  
"Ey! Don't say that, you're gonna make it worse!" He protested.  
You giggled at him, "Sorry, but you really are."  
"Oh my god." He muttered, shaking his head.   
"At least finish your slushee buddy, you fussed at me so much for getting so much of it." You said, trying to distract him.  
"Stole so much of it." He corrected you, "And I'll just finish it on the way to my dorm." He said.  
"Okay. You got any morning classes tomorrow, it's getting pretty late." You asked him.  
"Nah, my first class is at 1 in the afternoon today, I should be fine." He said.  
"Good, since we're like, pretty much done with our snacks, I think I should start heading back to my dorm." You said, starting to gather your things.  
"Hold on, it's really late right now, it could be dangerous for you to walk out there alone. How about I walk you home?" Armin suggested with concern.  
"Sure, thanks Armin." You said.

You felt safer walking with him back home than you had walking alone to Sheetz. It was nice. You two didn't speak much during the walk and Armin walked close by with his hands in his pockets and his hood over his head.   
You couldn't help but smile at his face, and he gave you a half smile when he saw you looking at him.  
Before long you reached your dorm and your time with Armin was over.  
"It was nice hanging out with you tonight y/n. I had fun." Armin said.  
"I had fun too." You said, swaying with your hands behind your back.  
You stood in front of the door for a moment, silent and awkward. Until Armin finally broke it. He blushed again, "Well um. I'll talk to you soon y/n, maybe something funny will happen in class later." He said.  
You smiled again, "Okay, I'll see ya soon Armin. Hopefully it'll take less than a week and a half for you to talk to me again though." You remarked.  
"I'll try and make that happen." He said.   
You two laughed together for a second, before Armin actually left. He leaned forward slightly and nodded, and you gave him a head nod back. Then he turned away, gave you a little wave, and started to walk away.  
Just like that, you were alone again.  
It was 1 o'clock in the morning when you got home. You changed into your pajamas and like usual, plopped down onto your bed (only more quietly this time because Pieck had fallen asleep.)

-Made it home safe, you good over there?   
Armin texted

~Yeah, I'm good. Goodnight Armin.

-Gn 😊

You texted Yelena and Ymir to tell them that you were fine, and also Pieck even though she was asleep.  
You put your phone down and laid under the covers with your hands over your face. You couldn't stop thinking about his sweet smile and him calling you pretty no matter how hard you tried.  
"God, I really like him don't I?"


	4. To the media center

Now you and Armin texted nearly everyday now. No matter what, you always seemed to end up smiling. You sent each other memes, told each other stories, and spammed each other's notifs.  
Today it was Friday at 3:30pm. You were just leaving your creative writing class. Rushing to get to the media center. You were totally distracted by interesting story ideas, your digital pile of homework, and thinking about how you couldn't wait to talk to Armin that you forgot to watch where you were going.  
Just you rounded the corner to get to the media center you barreled and crashed into someone, knocking the both of you into the ground.  
You popped back up quickly and immediately started running your mouth.  
"Shit! I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. I didn't mean to bump into you." You rambled.  
"Y/n?"  
You paused and looked into your accidental victim's bright blue eyes.  
"Armin?" You asked. Totally surprised. What was he doing here at your school?  
"Yep, that's me. Um, could you help me up?" He asked.  
You nodded and gave him you hand, and he used it for support.  
"Thanks." He said, rubbing his lower back.  
"Are you okay?" You asked him.  
"Yeah, I'm good, hit my back though." He said.  
"Sorry Armin, again I really didn't mean to run into." You apologized.  
"Nah, you're fine since it was an accident." Armin said.  
You paused for a moment. "So what are you doing here?" You asked him, feeling suspicious of him. "He better not be stalking me or something. Why'd I have to go and trust him so fast?" You thought.  
"Oh, me? I was going to the media center. Were you going there too? You seemed like you were in a hurry." Armin said.  
"Wait what? You're a student here?" You asked him.  
Armin sheepishly grabbed the nape of his neck like before. "Yeah." He said.  
"Seriously? How did so not notice that!" You exclaimed. "I've been coming here for three years!"  
Armin chuckled at your reaction. "Sorry, didn't mean to laugh. It's actually my first year here, and I live on the other side of campus from you, so that's probably why." He explained.  
"Why didn't you tell me before?" You asked him.  
He squeezed his nape a little tighter, and broke eye contact with you. "I was so excited when I was talking to you that I kinda just, forgot." He said.  
You rolled your eyes at him and shook your head. "Really Armin?" You said, acting like you were deeply disappointed in him.  
"To be fair, you never really told me that you went here either." Armin pointed out slyly.  
"Oh yeah I didn't!" You remembered.  
Armin smiled at you. "So that means it's also your fault too." He said.  
"I get it, shut up Armin." You jokingly shoved him back a little by his left shoulder. He leaned forward and dramatically clutched it.  
"Y/n why? I thought we were friends!" He fake cried.  
You laughed. "Not anymore Armin, you just have to many secrets and I can't handle that." You said dramatically, matching his energy.  
Armin busted out laughing and you followed him with your hands on your knees.  
"Oh my god we're so fucking stupid." Armin said quickly, coming back up for air.  
You were a little surprised since Armin didn't swear very often (as far as you knew), but you quickly recovered and went right on back to teasing him.  
You stuck your nose in the air with your hands on your hips. "Speak for yourself Armin." You said.  
"Hey…" He said, still smiling.  
"Oh wait, what were you coming to the media center for?" You asked him, remembering what he had said earlier.  
"I just wanted to look for a good book to read." He said.  
"Lucky. I have to do a bunch of work." You complained.  
"That's tough." Armin responded. "What's your major?" He asked.  
"Creative writing…" You admitted shyly.  
"Cool! I'm majoring in Music performance and music theory." Armin said.  
"So you're a singer?" You asked him.  
"Yeah." Armin said.  
"That's really cool. I'd love to hear you sing sometime." You told him.  
Armin blushed. "Uh-are you sure? I'm still learning a lot and my voice it honestly pretty average." He spluttered, quick to talk himself down  
You frowned slightly at this, but quickly softened your face. "Don't put yourself down like that Armin. I'm sure you're really good." You said, coming a bit closer to him.  
"Thanks y/n." He said, looking down at his feet.  
"Sure bro." You looked at you phone, it was now 3:46. "Oh shit, I've just been here with you for sixteen minutes! I really need to get to work." You realized.  
Normally you would have said that you'd wasted those sixteen minutes talking to him, but talking to Armin didn't feel like a waste at all.  
"Oh, sorry for holding you up." Armin said bashfully.  
"Nah, you're fine since it was an accident." You said, repeating what he had said earlier with a wink.  
"Or was it?" Armin suggested jokingly.  
You gasped dramatically. "What? Armin! Are you trying to sabotoge my career?" You asked him with your hand over your heart.  
"Maybe just a little bit." He said, pinching his fingers close together.  
You rolled your eyes at him, "Okay seriously, I've gotta get a move on or I'm gonna be swamped with work tomorrow." You told him, cutting off the dramatics.  
"Okay, I'll walk with you since I'm still going there." He said.  
"Okay, but you better hurry up." You said.  
"I'll try my best." Armin promised.  
Despite the mishap from earlier, you managed to get a good amount of work done. Armin sat at the end of the table closest to you, reading his book while you worked. From how he was reacting, he was pretty into it.  
It was cute to get to see him be passionate about something. It made your heart flutter joyfully and you couldn't help but smile.


	5. Armin's thoughts

Armin sat at his desk. He was in between work for two classes and was feeling a little burnt out. He flicked a pencil up the slanted desk, watching as it came down, and flicking it again when it touched his finger. He was just taking a little break, that was it. As he lied about his plans, his thoughts wandered to you. Your cute face, the way you got flustered when he teased you back, and the way your ass felt against him when you danced together at the Blue Whale. He physically shook that thought out of his head. "Nope, not right now." He thought, cringing in embarrassment. "Thank God y/n can't read minds or she'd think I was a total perve." He thought. He set his chin on his palms and tilted his head up slightly. Looking at the corner where the wall met the ceiling and closing his eyes as he floated away into a daydream.

_You walked ahead of him, the waves lapping at your feet and the wind blowing your huge sun hat. "Are you sure you didn't overdo it a little bit y/n?" He asked. You turned around towards him, your face slightly red from the sun. "No way, I want to be as protected as possible. No way am I getting skin cancer." You told him with conviction. He laughed and put his arm around you. "Yeah, I had a real bad sunburn the other year. Being pale isn't always the best when you really love the beach." He said. You folded your lips into a straight line. "Maybe you should take my hat then." You sat it on his head and accidentally put it mostly on his forehead. "Oh sorry Armin!" You said, quickly pulling it off of his face and fixing it properly on top of his head. Armin giggled and grabbed your wrists playfully, inching closer to your face. You leaned into him and kissed him passionately. He could feel you smiling until you pulled away, ending that sweet moment. "Come on babe! Let's find some cool seashells.!" You said. You quickly jogged ahead of him. Armin watched you from behind with a small smile. He silently wished that this dream was a reality._

"Oi, Armin!" Eren slammed his hand down onto his desk. Armin's eyes immediately opened wide and he jumped from being startled. "What do you want Eren!" He snapped. Eren backed up a little with his hands in the air. "Geez, okay. I've been trying to talk to you for like a minute, but you were just sitting there like you couldn't hear me!" Eren explained. Armin rolled his eyes. "Is that it?" He asked with exasperation. "No, I need some help with my economics homework." He said. Armin sighed deeply and leaned on his right arm. "Ugh. Bring it here." He said. "Thanks man, you're a lifesaver!" Eren said gleefully as he ran off to get his stuff. Armin sighed again and clicked his tongue. He thought about you again. "Maybe I should text y/n after this." He thought. "Here we go Armin." Eren said, slamming down his book. As soon as he looked at it, he already saw at least ten mistakes. "If Eren's work doesn't take forever." He added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's a little short.


	6. Driving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For texting.
> 
> " - " Armin
> 
> " ~ "
> 
> When 🎶 comes up, play Best On Earth - Russ ft. Bia
> 
> *Youtube link if you need it.
> 
> https://youtu.be/epy-fXAPR9w

You woke up from a nightmare at 3 in the morning on Sunday. You don't remember what it was, but it sure gave you a start. You decided to watch some tiktoks to calm yourself down, when you got a notification on your phone.  
"Of course it's Armin." You muttered, smiling and rolling your eyes. "What's he want this time?"

-Are you up y/n? I can't sleep.

One thing you learned about Armin is that he is a hard worker. He stays up very late doing extra assignments for his classes and often crashes right after his school day ends or he works some more and goes to sleep late. 

~Did you sleep at all?

-....  
-I got four hours in, but now I'm feeling wide awake.

~That's...not good Armin.

-Yeah yeah I know.

Before you could text him saying to go back to sleep, he changed the subject.

-Wyd?

~Talking to you silly. 🤗

-🙄  
-I guess that's true.  
-Wanna go driving around the campus? I'm really bored. 

-You should bore yourself to sleep. 😐

~Please y/n 🥺

You sighed and rolled your eyes. "Not the pleading emoji." You thought. You caved.

-You got snacks?

~Yep.

-Okay, just give me a sec. Pick me up at 3:20.

~Yay! See ya then.

-Bye.

You shut your phone and brushed your teeth twice to get the morning breath to go away. You bought a liter soda of mountain dew for Armin and a liter of crush for yourself. You fixed your hair a little and put on a bra. (You were close to Armin, but not that close). You didn't bother with the rest of your clothes since you were gonna hop right back into bed soon anyway, but you did put on lip balm. Going outside with chapped lips is a crime.

At 3:15 Armin texted you.

-I'm here.

~I'll be down in a sec

Of course he was early. That was just Armin. You snuck quietly out of the as to not wake up Pieck and tiptoed down the hallway so that you wouldn't disturb Ymir (Or Historia who had stayed the night). You quietly locked the door and bounded downstairs. 

~Which car's your's?

-It's the blue Saturn three spaces to your left.

You looked up from your phone to your left and caught sight of Armin in his car. He waved at you with a smile on his face  
You waved back and jogged towards the car. He unlocked the door and you slid in.  
"Hey." You said.  
"Hey." He said back.

It seemed that he hadn't bothered to change out of his pj's either. His hair was neat like usual, but he wore a white t-shirt and loose blue pajama pants with white clouds on them.  
You hadn't noticed you were looking at him close to a not very appropriate area until you saw him looking at you from the corner of your eye.  
He squinted at you with a cheeky smile, and you realized you'd been caught staring.  
You felt your face heat up and you started laughing because you felt a little embarrassed.  
"No, I swear I was just looking at the pattern on your pants." You defended yourself.  
Armin snorted. "Sure y/n." He teased.  
"Armin!" You yelped. "I'm being serious!" You couldn't help but cover your face though.  
Armin cocked his head at you, totally not believing a word you were saying.  
"Shut up Armin!" You said, shoving him a little.  
"I didn't even say anything though!" He said, giggling.  
"Oh, but you were thinking about it." You said.  
Armin shrugged with his hands pointed outwards and put the car into drive. 

When he backed out, he put his hand behind your headrest and looked casually behind him.  
"He's so close!" You thought, looking up at his concentrated face.  
He also smelled good, like salt and lavender. You wanted to lean on him, but decided against it since he was driving.  
"Goddamn he's so fine." You thought. You let yourself think that this time though, because, well he was.  
Once you got on a straight road you passed him the Mountain Dew you brought along with you.  
"Thanks y/n." He said, popping open the lid. "The snacks are in the backseat." He said, pointing with his thumb.  
You grabbed a small bag of nacho cheese Doritos and a twinkie. You didn't have to eat them all at once, and besides Armin probably wanted something too.  
"So what kept you up this time Armin?" You asked him.  
"Eh, just got a random burst of energy when I actually laid down to go to sleep. After being tired all day too." He said.  
"Damn, that sucks." You said.  
"Really. Hey, can I get a chip?" He asked.  
"Yeah sure." You sacrificed on of the full ones and held it up for him to take, but instead of just taking with one hand, he leaned his head down and took it with his teeth.  
You flared your nostrils in and opened your eyes wide in surprise. "Um what?" You asked in shock.  
Armin giggled as he tried to chew. "I've gotta drive with both hands right now." He said.  
You rolled your eyes. "You want me to feed you the soda too?" You joked.  
"Maybe." He said semi-seriously.  
"Too bad then." You said, sitting back in your seat and drinking your crush.  
"Damn I should bought something else, this is stinging me." You thought.

🎶

Armin turned on a song to fill the silences and you both sat calmly, comfortable in each other's presence.  
"Armin?" You asked.  
"Yeah?" He replied.  
"How many people have you dated?" You asked curiously.  
"Just one." Armin said.  
"Really? With how cute you are I'd think you'd have a whole line of people wanting you." You said.  
Armin chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment."  
"You should." You said, tipping your bottle at him slightly.  
"What about you? How many people have you dated y/n? He asked.  
"Um, like three or four. The one of them is kinda iffy since we weren't really that serious. I like being committed." You said, looking at your nails.  
Armin looked surprised at that, but he didn't say anything.  
"Cool. Can I have another chip?" He asked.  
"Another one? You already had like twenty of mine!" You said.  
"It was only fifteen!" He said.  
"You counted?" You asked.  
"Maybe...." He said.  
You giggled at him. Armin and his quirks, so cute.

"How come you decided to dance with me that night?" Armin asked suddenly.  
You popped up a bit and thought on your feet. "You were cute and I liked talking to you." You said simply.  
Armin smiled a little bit. "Do you still think I'm cute?" He asked.  
You giggled, becoming a little shy. "Why are you asking me this right now?" You asked, hiding the bottom half of your face in your shirt.  
"I'm just curious that's all." He said.  
"Then yeah. I still think you're cute." You answered.  
Armin's smile became shaky as he tried to hide a bigger one and he turned bright red. "I shouldn't have asked. Now my hands are shaking." He said, releasing his full smile.  
"Aw. Would a chip help?" You offered.  
"Sure." He took it.  
Armin sure switched up fast. One second he was all playful and bold and the next he was shy and blushing. 

"We drove around the whole campus already." Armin said, yawning. "I think it's about time for me to turn in." He said.  
You caught his yawn. "Stop it, now you've got me doing it too!" You protested  
Armin laughed softly. "Sorry y/n." He said.  
He pulled back into your suite's parking lot and put the car in park. "Well, this is your stop." He said. "Thanks for coming with me." He added.  
You ruffled his hair. "No problem man."  
He giggled and fixed his hair. "Come on, I spent like a minute trying to brush this." He joked.  
You looked into his bright blue eyes with a smile on your face, and he smiled back sweetly. If you wanted to, you could kiss him right now. The atmosphere was perfect and he was so cute, but for some reason you backed away.  
"See you later Armin." You said softly.  
Armin nodded. "Yeah. Bye y/n." He said.  
You slid out of his car and walked slowly back to your suite. You looked back and watched him pull off.

You facepalmed hard as soon as he was gone. "Damn it, why am I so stupid? I should've kissed him! Ugh!" You whisper-yelled as you walked upstairs.  
You unlocked the door and walked to bed. You needed help. Serious help.

"Ugh, but that means I've gotta admit to Pieck that I like him."

"Damn it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to a normal length chapter this time.


	7. As expected of Pieck

The day after your drive with Armin, you decided to come clean to your Pieck about how you caught feelings for Armin.

Mostly because you were an absolute disaster and needed some help. Like fast.

"Pieck, can I ask you something?" You said.

"I mean you're kind of already doing that." She teased.

"Pieck! Seriously!" You said.

Pieck got the message and closed her book with a louder slam than she had intended, causing her to cringe and jump at the noise. "Sorry." She said quietly. "What's up y/n."

You hesitated for a moment, grabbing each of your shoulders with the opposite hand and rocking from side to side. Pieck waited for you to answer quietly, and you finally took a deep breath and let out your question.  
"How should I ask out Armin?"

Pieck's mouth fell open and her eyes bulged out of her head.  
"Wait seriously? You're actually admitting that you want him?" She yelped in surprise.  
"Yes Pieck. Don't make this any harder on me." You said gruffly.  
"My bad!" Pieck said. She hopped over onto your bed and sat down across from you. "But first, you gotta tell me what you know about him." Pieck said.  
"Oh okay." You thought for a moment. "He likes sweets, especially fruit flavored ones, cats, eating, dancing, singing (I think), he's pretty shy, only has one ex, and goes to college here." You said.

"That's not a lot." Pieck said hesitantly.  
You sighed deeply. "I know."  
"At least learn a little bit more about him before you ask him out, and also make sure that he's single and not still heartbroken from that ex of his." Pieck advised.  
"Are you sure?" You asked.  
Pieck nodded. "Of course. Also make sure to get to know his friends. They could help, but also they could get in the way of they don't like you." She said.  
You nodded. "Okay."

"And don't rush, you have only known him for about a month and a half now. Give it a little bit of time and enjoy your time with him before you try out a relationship." She said.  
"Make sure to prepare for both acceptance or rejection, and know your expectations." Pieck added.  
"Okay, thanks Pieck." You said. You pulled her into a hug and smiled.

"I should ask him to hang out again." You said.  
"Ask him to hang out with his friends, make a good impression and such." Pieck added.  
"Yeah I should!" You said.  
"How come you're asking me so much y/n? Haven't you dated before." She asked.  
"My last relationships didn't last that long, and also…" you paused. "I've never really felt like this for anyone."  
"Aawww!" Pieck exclaimed.  
"Stop it Pieck! I was just being truthful." You said defensively.  
Pieck laughed, "I know." She stood up and grabbed her things. "I'm going over to Yelena's. Good luck getting your man y/n!" She cheered you on.  
"He's not my man!" You insisted, Pieck shut the door behind her with a laugh. 

"Not yet." You whispered to yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, another short chapter.


	8. Armin's personal basket case

Armin didn't talk about his friends that much around you, but he did mention the weird things that they did.

-Bro? Wanna hear something that happened today?

~Sure, go on.

-Okay.  
-So I was just going to the bookshelf trying to get a book (as you do there) and out of nowhere my buddy Eren just falls off of our bookshelf and nearly crushes me! I almost didn't get out of the way in time.

~Wtf?

-I know right?  
-He scared the shit out of me, cause I had no idea he was there until he was almost on top of me.

~What the hell was he doing on top of your guy's bookshelf?

-Dude, I have no idea.

~Also, is he okay?

-Oh yeah, he's fine. He just popped back up and asked where his Doritos went.  
-He's weird like that.

~Geez. What goes on at y'all's place.

-A lot. You don't even wanna know.

Now was your chance, you had to ask him about it.

~Maybe I wanna hear it straight from Eren.

-. . . .  
-Huh?

~😂  
~ I mean I wanna hang out with y'all. 

-Ohh! Okay.  
-We're supposed to hang out today anyway.  
-I'll ask the guys if you can tag along

~Cool, thanks Armin.

-😉

You put your phone down and went to get a snack. You looked at your phone every once in a while, but didn't even see him typing.

"Huh that's weird? Maybe he's just busy?" You said.  
Then the fake scenarios came.  
"Did he forget?"  
"Is he ignoring me?"  
"Did his friends say no, so he doesn't wanna tell me?"  
"Is he dead!?"

You couldn't help but laugh out loud at that last one. Why would Armin be dead? That's ridiculous! He's probably fine. 

It took an hour and a half, but Armin finally texted back.

-So you'll never guess what happened.

~What?

-Guess.

~But you said I'd never guess.

-😑  
-You got me there.

~Just tell me already Armin!

-Okay okay, give me a sec I was typing!  
-So we had to take Eren to the hospital.

Maybe you should've tried guessing that one. That was a pretty unsurprising outcome.

~I thought you said he was okay?

-He sure seemed like it, but no, he wasn't. He partially fractured two ribs and didn't notice until he started crying when Mikasa tickled him. 🙄  
-And then I had to drive because she would NOT let go of him.   
-He's good now though. Mikasa got him ice cream.

~How did he just not notice his ribs were fucked?

-He has a high pain tolerance. It's kinda scary.

You weren't sure if you wanted to know why that was scary, but you got the gist.

~Geez. Guess that means plans are cancelled today, huh?

-Yeah, sorry.  
-But he heals pretty fast, so we should be able to meet up soon.

~Don't rush. I'll just meet him when he's actually recovered.  
~Also tell him I said to get well soon.

Armin paused for a minute.

-He said, "Thanks," and puked all over the carpet. 🙁

~Oh.

-So I'm gonna go now, because now we have to help him again.  
-I'll catch ya later y/n.  
-👉👉

~Bye Armin  
~👈👈

You turned off your phone and laid on your back.   
"Geez." Was all you could think. Armin and his friends were a huge wreck. Especially that Eren kid. What the hell was going on with him? Hopefully it wasn't too much for Armin. You couldn't help but laugh at the thought of it though, maybe you're just mean.


	9. Your Girls (and Porco)

Since Eren was out of Commission for a while, you and Armin decided to hang out with your friends instead.

"So we finally get to meet this boyfriend of yours." Pieck teased.

"Girl shut up, you know I haven't asked him out yet." You said defensively

"You mean that night at _Sheetz_ wasn't a date?" Historia asked.

"No, we were just hanging out." You said.

Ymir and Historia looked at each other in disbelief.

"Right…" Ymir said disingenuously.

You rolled your eyes. "Come on guys stop playing around, this has to go well." You said anxiously.

"Relax, we're not gonna hurt your chances y/n." Porco half joked from the refrigerator.

"I don't mean it like that. I just want you guys to be cool with him" You said.

"Don't worry about it y/n, I'm sure it'll be fine." Pieck said.

"Wait, who are we meeting again?" Historia asked.

"Armin Arlert." You replied.

"Armin! Really?" Historia exclaimed.

This made you nervous. What was she so surprised for?

"What? Is something wrong?" You asked.

Historia waved her hands out in front of her. "Oh no. I just already know him, he's like a little brother to me." She said.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?" You asked.

She looked over at Ymir. "Well I didn't know because Ymir forgot his name when she told me about you guys. She always just called him "some dude." Historia explained.

Ymir shrugged. "In my defense, he is some dude to me."

Historia looked surprised at what Ymir said.

"You've met him like ten times! You share a class with him!" Historia exclaimed.

Ymir shrugged. "My bad I guess."

Historia rolled her eyes at Ymir and turned back to you. "Don't worry, Armin's a really sweet guy. It'll definitely go well." She said.

Having Historia's confidence behind you really boosted your's.

"Okay! So we're gonna hang out with Armin at the mall today cus that's easy. He's gotta get off of work so he's gonna come a little bit later than us and we're gonna meet at the food court. Also Porco, Pieck, and I are gonna ride with Yelena." You announced.

"Sounds good to me." Ymir said.

"As long as I don't have to drive, we're good." Porco said.

"We're not just going window shopping right? I've got some cash to blow." Pieck asked.

"Ooh, I'd like to go to _Bath and Body Works_!" Historia chimed in.

"Ooh, can we stop by _Dillard's_? I just wanna go on the escalator." Said Yelena, who had been quiet the whole time.

"Okay okay. We can decide where to go when we get there, let's just get on the road before we're late!" You urged.

You were anxious the whole way to the mall, rocking and bouncing your leg.

"Ay. Calm down y/n, you're shaking me." Porco said.

"Sorry Pock. I'm just really excited." You said.

Porco leaned against the car door. "I get it." He said simply. 

Pieck pulled into the mall parking lot, finding a place close to the doors.

You nearly squealed in excitement (and nervousness).

You hopped out of the car and adjusted your outfit. "This is so cute." You thought.

You had chosen a pink t-shirt crop top, dark blue high waisted jeans that were ripped in the thighs, and pink low top chuck taylors, plus the usual bubblegum lip gloss (that was starting to run out), and pink nails.

"Maybe I should change it up sometime though." You thought. You shrugged, oh well, you were already here and walking into the mall with Porco and Pieck.

It was 5:33 in the evening and Armin was supposed to get here at 5:45. You almost felt like running through the mall. Waiting on someone you're so excited to see is really hard.

"Calm down y/n, you haven't blinked in a little bit." Historia said with concern.

"Oh, sorry Historia." You had been thinking so hard you were barely aware of your surroundings.

You shook yourself out of it.

 _Yeah, I do need to calm down. How am I gonna have any fun if I'm nervous the whole time?_ You thought.

You made sure your clothes and hair were fine and got a slushie (blue raspberry.)

When you turned around, you saw Armin walk into the food court, looking around for you and the crew.

"He's here!" You thought with excitement as your heart pounded in your chest. Since you were closer to him than the group at the moment you walked up to him.

"Hey, Armin! You made it!" You called out to him.

Armin turned towards the sound of your voice, and he looked the right way this time unlike when you had gone to Sheetz together.

He waved at you with a big bright smile on his face.

"Ugh, he's so cute!" You thought, smiling back at him.

He wore a blue jacket with the zipper open, a light yellow hoodie under it, neat light blue jeans, black combat boots, and black rings on his left middle to pinky fingers.

You gave him a side hug and he hugged you back by your shoulder, pulling you in closer.

"Yeah, traffic after work is rough though." Armin finally answered, letting go of you.

You took him by his right hand, "Come on, I'll take you to my friends." You said.

Armin followed you and you noticed your friends had looks of mischief on their faces. Even Historia was wearing a shit eating grin.

They switched up when Armin came close though.

"Armin, you already know Historia." You started.

"And ymir too." Armin added.

"Probably should've guessed that one." You muttered.

Armin chuckled, guess he heard you.

You rolled your eyes with a little smile on your face and nudged Armin's arm with your elbow.

"Anyway, other than them, we have Porco. . ."

"Hey." Porco said

"Yelena. . ."

Yelena gave him a head nod and a small smile.

"And Pieck."

"Hi Armin, nice to meet ya!" Pieck said cheerfully.

Armin smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, nice to meet you guys. I'm Armin." He said.

"We know." Pieck said, smirking at you. 

"Pieck!" You whispered harshly.

Armin laughed through his nose and his cheeks turned bright red.

Porco laughed shortly and stood next to Pieck. "You've got him blushing already?" He said.

"You know it's my specialty." Pieck joked pridefully.

"Really, I thought it was walking through the suite on all fours." Porco teased.

Pieck pulled his green hood over his head. "Shut the fuck up Pock!" She said.

Porco laughed as he released himself from Pieck's grasp. "Now you're the one that's blushing." He pointed out.

"Ugh, I hate you." Pieck said, clearly not serious, and she covered the lower half of her face in her shirt.

Porco just kept laughing.

"Y'all please!" You laughed at them.

"Come on, we should get going, the mall closes in three hours!" Historia urged.

"Don't worry Tori, you'll get your _Bath and Body Works._ " Ymir assured her.

"Speaking of going, where should we go first?" Pieck asked.

"Why don't we go to the top floor first and make our way down, so that when it's time to go we won't be that far from the door?" Armin suggested.

"Sounds like a lot of walking, but I'm cool with it." Yelena said.

"Probably because your tall ass will be miles ahead of the rest of us." Pieck joked.

"Hey, it's not my problem that y'all are short." Yelena said, resting her arm on Pieck's head to emphasize this.

"You guys are doing me so wrong today!" Pieck complained.

Historia took the group back on track. "Yeah, me and Ymir are good with starting on the top floor." She said. 

"I just wanna go shopping." Porco said.

"Then I guess that's what we're doing." You decided. "Let's get to the escalators."

On the way to the elevator, you and Armin walked close behind the rest of the group nearly shoulder to shoulder.

"They seem like fun." Armin commented.

"Tsk! What? You expected them to be boring?" You teased.

Armin had a "here we go again'' look on his face with a smile and eye roll. Maybe you were influencing him.

"Pfft! No. You definitely couldn't handle boring people." He said. "I just wasn't really sure what to expect honestly." He shrugged.

"So you're just jumping in with no expectations?" You stepped into the escalator. "How irresponsible Armin." You joked.

Armin laughed, shaking his head. "Of course you'd say that." He fixed his bangs and stepped off of the escalator. 

"Come on, we're lagging a little. Let's go catch up with your people." He said, nodding his head towards your group.

"Yeah, okay." You replied.

You blew through the shops, Yelena got an ear piercing at _Claire's_ and Pieck had to pull her off of the _Dillard's_ escalators after she rode on them for a good thirty minutes.

Pieck bought a bunch of chokers and ironable clothes patches from hot topic and a book from _Barnes & Noble._ Also some coffee cup earrings and a cute black dress.

Historia went wild in _Bath and Body Works_ she came out with twenty sanitizers, some lipgloss, and scented soap. (Pretty sure she spooked Armin a little bit.)

Porco and Armin sat in the massage chairs and bought a lot of candy and gambled for bouncy balls.

Porco also found a bomber jacket that he liked.

Ymir bought a _Froot loops_ scented candle, a huge cinnamon sugar topped pretzel, black nail polish, earrings shaped like pink pleasers just because, and an amethyst geode.

You'd found some of that bubblegum lip gloss that you needed, some new hair ties, a cute long sleeved black and yellow crop top you found. (Armin said that it'd make you look like a bee, but bees are cute, soooo.)

Plus a pair of black skinny jeans and that slushie from earlier. You weren't really looking to spend a lot today, just have fun.

Finally it was 8:20, you were all downstairs and the mall was about to close. You were about to start leaving, when Pieck brought something up.

"Guys! We should go to FYE!" She exclaimed.

"Fye?" Porco asked.

"For your entertainment. You can usually find all kinds of merch or just fun stuff you never thought you needed!" Pieck explained.

"Sure, but we should hurry up, the place is closing soon." You said.

The others mostly came along since it was the last place.

Pieck quickly ran over to a Gudetama pillow and Yelena followed her to keep her out of trouble, 

Historia and Ymir just looked around, and who knows what Porco was up to.

You looked around in the squishy box. Stress toys like that are a real relief at times, or just fun to squeeze. The harder ones weren't as fun though, because then they took effort to play with.

You ended up picking out a smiling chocolate chip cookie when something caught your eye.

In one of your conversations with Armin, he mentioned that he really loved the ocean, so this couldn't be more perfect.

A red hermit crab squishy with a swirling white conch shell on its back, big shiny eyes, and a smile. 

_Oh, this is kinda cute._ You thought.

You picked it up and stared at it for a moment.

But should I get it for him?

You looked over at Armin who was playing with the finger puppets. You smiled, just cute as usual. 

Yeah, you were definitely buying it. You weren't sure when would be a good time to give it to him though.

You paid at the cash register and returned to the group, they were already done.

"Hey, y/n. Are you ready to go?" Armin asked.

You nodded, feeling your face heat up from remembering what you'd bought for him earlier.

"Yeah, let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want write a chapter that's 3,000 words long, but I only made it to 2,555 this chapter. And that's still the longest! 😭


	10. The ride home

You walked out of the mall, trying to keep talking so no one would suspect anything of you. The cold breeze hit you fast and you shielded your arms with your hands. It was definitely going to rain, but it hadn't started yet.

You were about to make a run for it to Pieck's car when you felt something warm drape over your shoulders.

Armin smiled shyly. "You looked cold." He said simply.

"Are you sure, aren't you gonna get cold?" You asked, holding the jacket over you.

"Y/n I have on a hoodie on, I'm all good." He said calmly.

"Okay." You put your arms through the sleeves of his jacket. It smelled like his usual salt and lavender which was comforting to you. 

"Think I could catch a ride with you tonight?" You asked.

"Yeah sure, come on." He said, starting to walk off.

"Hold on, let me go tell Pieck." You said. You walked over to Pieck, she was waiting on you to get in the car.

"Come on y/n, we can't let you stand in front of the mall talking to Armin forever." She teased.

"Actually, I'm gonna be riding back with him tonight." You told her.

Pieck smirked. "Is he taking you back to his place?" She asked.

You jumped back in surprise. "No, he's bringing me back home." You replied once you regained your composure.

Pieck still had a silly grin on her face, "If you say so y/n." She said, stepping into her car.

"Aw come on Pieck." You said.

Pieck laughed as she shut the door and you walked back over to Armin.

"You ready to go y/n?" He asked, holding his car keys.

"Yeah." You said, walking up next to him.

Armin's car wasn't far from the building either, just a few sections left of the entrance.

"I had fun today, you guys are pretty cool." Armin said.

You smiled. "I'm glad you think so. My friends really seemed to like you." You said.

Armin nodded. He unlocked his car and opened the passenger seat door for you and went around to the front seat.

You set your bags in the back except for the one from  _ FYE _ and Armin started the car.

"Got any songs you wanna play?" He asked.

"Yeah, can you play "Say So" by Doja Cat?" You asked.

"If you say so." Armin joked.

You couldn't help but giggle, even though the joke was terrible.

Armin was mostly silent other than tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat.

You hummed along to the song, holding the crab squishy tight. 

You were very nervous. What if he rejected you? That would be so humiliating. Should you even be doing this at all?

Armin's voice suddenly interrupted your anxious, unresting thoughts.

"Are you okay y/n? Usually by now you're on my ass about something?" Armin said with a little smile on his face.

You giggled. "Yeah, just give me a second okay?"

Armin looked confused. "Okay?"

You were close to home and it was starting to feel like now or never, you decided to go for it, you just had to! When he wasn't on the road of course.

He pulled into the driveway after Say so had gone off and now it was just you two and the sound of the car heater.

Your heart was pounding in your chest and clenched your seatbelt tightly.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look pretty nervous y/n." Armin commented, looking concerned. You felt a little bad for making him nervous, but you really couldn't help it.

Preparing yourself, you took a deep breath and let go of your seatbelt. There was no way you were letting the chance go this time around.

"Yeah, I just wanna talk." You said.

You saw a flash of fear in Armin's eyes when they popped open slightly.

"You do?" He asked.

"Yeah, about us." You trembled out, looking down at your lap.

Armin paused, before talking again.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked nervously. 

You popped your head back up, quickly waving your hand in front of your face as if to fan away Armin's thought.

"What! No! Of course not!" You exclaimed, making yourself clear.

Armin looked pretty relieved. "Then why are you shaking so much?" He asked curiously.

You looked into his eyes, trying to muster up more courage.

"It's nothing bad, I'm just nervous because it's important to me." You said. "Just give me a second to gather my thoughts completely."

Armin nodded, still looking a little bit confused. "Okay." He said.

You took another deep breath and dug into your back, pulling out the squishy you had just bought.

Armin looked at it curiously as you held it up towards him.

"I got this for you at  _ FYE  _ since you said you like the ocean, plus you could have a little buddy to help you out with stress you might have." You said, avoiding his eyes again.

Armin chortled and took it from your hands. 

_ Is he laughing at me? _

You looked up at him and to your surprise, he actually wasn't. His cheeks were bright red and a wide grin was already forming on his face. "Thanks y/n, that's really sweet of you." He said shyly. "I had actually got you something too."

He pulled out something from the bag beside him. It was a rose gold chain with a rose quartz on it.

"It's so pretty!" You gasped.

Armin blushed even harder. A shaky smile showed up on his red face.

"Can I put it on you?" He asked shyly.

"Mm-hm." You said.

Gently, he placed the necklace around your neck and his hands were soft on your skin as he clasped it.

"It looks good on you." He said.

You touched the gem with a smile on your face. "Thanks Armin." You said.

Armin sat sideways in his seat, laying his head on his hand so he could face you.

"So is that all you wanted to tell me y/n?" He asked.

You swallowed, touching your new necklace. "No, that was only part of it." You said.

Armin listened closely, scooting a little bit closer to you.

"I hope this doesn't make things awkward in any way." You started.

"We just did a gift exchange y/n, I think we're past that." Armin chuckled.

That made you feel a little less nervous and you laughed a little with him. You fiddled with the necklace and folded your lips.

You decided to go for it as best you could.

You took a deep breath and started rambling. 

"Armin, I really like you, like a lot. You're really special to me. You make me laugh and you care about me, plus you're cute." You started, before getting into the mushy stuff. "I wanna go out on dates with you for real. I wanna do all of the lovey dovey stuff and cuddle you in the middle of the night." You paused, trying to find your words. "I - I, I want you to be my boyfriend!"

Your whole body seemed to explode with heat. You breathed deeply as you waited for Armin to say something. He sat completely still.

_ Oh man, did I fuck it up? I gotta fix this somehow. _

"Armin, I-"

Armin suddenly pulled you into a big hug, cutting you off, but making your heart race even faster.

"I didn't know how to say it, but I like you too y/n." He said softly into your ear.

You were surprised, but you still hugged him back tightly, resting your head on his shoulder.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear you say that Armin." You said.

"I think I do." He pulled away from you, holding you at arm's length by your shoulders. "What made you take so long?" He asked.

"I wasn't really sure if I was ready. I was worried I didn't know enough about you, and I wasn't sure if you felt the same way." You said. 

"We literally called each other cute on the daily y/n." Armin said, chuckling. 

"I know, I know, but people still call each other cute platonically." You said.

"That's true, but that's definitely not how I meant it." He said.

"I should have known." You said.

"Plus we can get to know each other gradually, you don't have to know everything about me yet. We have time." He added.

"Yeah, I get that now." You decided to ask him the same question. "What took  **you** so long Armin?" You asked.

He grabbed at the nape of his neck like usual. 

"I thought you were out of my league, and honestly I was nervous about how you felt about me too. I wanted to respect your boundaries and I wasn't sure if asking you out would be doing that properly." He admitted.

You broke the hug and grabbed him, putting your hands gently on his face.

"Me out of you league? No way! You're literally so gorgeous Armin." You gushed.

"And I like that you wanna respect me, that's so sweet, but I wouldn't have minded being asked out." You said.

"Yeah, I know that now." Armin said.

He smiled and looked up at you.

"What is it Armin?" You asked.

"Y/n?" He asked.

"Yeah?" You replied.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked boldly, but sweetly.

You let go of Armin's face and came closer to him. "Yeah, go ahead." You whispered.

Armin guided your chin with his finger and pulled your face towards his, pulling you into a sweet kiss. His lips were warm and soft on yours. You turned your head to the left and wrapped your arms around his shoulders. He rested his right hand on your back, and his left one on your right thigh. Feeling his touch made you heat up inside and you wanted more.

You pounced on him and pushed him onto his seat without breaking this kiss and he let your tongue in his mouth. You wrapped your arms around his waist under his hoodie this time and felt the warmth of his body against yours. He grabbed hold of your thighs and moaned into your kiss and you held him tighter. 

You rocked on top of him and he followed you and you could feel him starting to get hard.

You gasped and kissed him deeper, rubbing his body while he squeezed your thighs.

You didn't want this to end, but you had to come up for air.

You lightly dragged your teeth on his lower lip and separated from him. You gasped for air and he panted under you. You rested your hands on his chest and you stayed like that for a moment.

"You're a good kisser Armin." You complimented him breathlessly. 

He raised his left hand up to your face and rested it on your cheek and you leaned into his cold black rings.

He looked at your face with endearment in his eyes and sat up against the door.

You gave him another, shallower kiss and came away from him again.

"Does this mean we're dating now?" You asked.

Armin chuckled softly, you could barely hear it, but you could feel it when he bounced a little under you.

"I think it does." He answered.

You smiled. "I like that." You said simply.

"Me too." Armin said.

You reluctantly slipped off of his lap and back into the passenger seat. Armin still leaned against the car door with his tongue in his cheek and his hoodie pulled up slightly, crumpling where your arms had been.

He fixed his bangs and sighed deeply. "Want me to walk you back to your place?" He asked.

You nodded and started grabbing your stuff from the backseat of the car. "Yeah, come on."

You opened the door and hopped out. Armin followed quickly, pulling his hoodie down.

Your suite was on the first floor in the back, so it wasn't a far walk, but he came anyway.

You stood in front of a door on the left, room 533.

"This is my place." You said.

Armin nodded and held his arms out. You hugged him for a long time, he held you tightly and rested his head on your shoulder.

After what felt like an hour, you pulled away. Missing him already.

"We'll talk tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah, we'll talk tomorrow." You said.

Armin smiled brightly and nodded once. "Goodnight y/n." He said.

You smiled back. "Goodnight Armin."

Armin backed away as you unlocked your front door, and you watched him until he turned around to go back to his car. He waved to you from inside one last time and pulled off.

You shut your suite door and leaned your back against it. Your eyes and mouth were wide open in shock.

_ I really just did that! I have a boyfriend now! _

You smiled so big that your face hurt and walked back to your room. Pieck sat awake in her bed, reading her new book.

"So, how'd it go y/n?" She asked.

"How'd what go?" you asked, acting oblivious.

"You asking out Armin, duh!" She said.

You felt your face heat up and somehow smiled harder. 

"I'm pretty sure we're dating now. We haven't talked much about it yet though." You said shyly.

Pieck grinned and gave you a big high-five.

"You go girl!" She cheered.

"Thanks Pieck." You said.

"I wanna hear everything y/n!" She said.

"You'll have to wait, Pieck, I'm actually pretty tired." You said.

"And you're still wearing Armin's jacket." Pieck pointed out.

"Oh shit, I totally forgot!" You said, facepalming.

"Pssh, don't worry about it. You can return it later. Or consider it the first item that you've stolen from your boyfriend." Pieck said.

"Stop playing Pieck, he's not my- oh wait. . ."

Pieck laughed out loud at your habit. "I guess you gotta get used to it now." 

You smiled again at the thought. "Yeah, I guess I do."

You took a quick shower and laid the necklace on your dresser where you could see it. You put on some pajamas and folded Armin's jacket neatly. Finally, you hopped under your covers and closed your eyes.

That night, you could barely sleep. All you could think about was Armin. The way he touched you, his soft lips and hands, and his pretty blue eyes. You thought about the necklace, you were so wearing that the next time you saw him.

You weren't sure when you actually did fall asleep, but you're sure it was definitely to some sweet thought about your new, adorable boyfriend.


	11. Awkward start

The next day you woke up to the sun shining in your eyes. You shielded yourself and closed your blinds. Pieck was already out of bed, either eating breakfast or she was over at Yelena's place.

You rolled back into bed and decided to go look at YouTube videos. You laid on your stomach and opened up your phone, still not completely awake yet.

You looked through your notifs and noticed that you got a text. 

A text from Armin.

Your face immediately heated up as you remembered the events of last night. 

_ Holy shit, he's actually my boyfriend now. _

Reluctantly you went to read the text, wondering what it was about.

-'Morning y/n. 🥰

You smiled brightly and giggled. Giddily you sunk your head into your pillow and kicked your feet up into the air. You almost couldn't believe it was real.

~Hey Armin. 😁

-What's up?

~I just woke up, so nothing much. How are you right now?

-Happy to be talking to you 😉

You smiled and rolled your eyes. Armin was so cheesy, but you liked that about him.

~Ew 😝

-Damn, so it's like that? 😢

~Armin I was playing!

-I know

~Oops 😳

-🤣

-Wanna meet up at  _ Waffle House _ for breakfast?

~Yeah sure, let's go at 10 since it's 9:15 right now.

-Alright. I'll pick you up.

~Kay. See ya in a minute.

-👉👉

~👈👈

  
  


You held your phone to your chest with your eyes squeezed shut.

_ Does this count as a first date? _ You thought, opening your eyes.

You hopped out of bed and went to pick something to wear.

You ended up deciding on Armin's blue jacket, a white tank top, black track shorts, black adidas slides, and the necklace that Armin bought you. It didn't match completely, but you were wearing it anyway.

Then you did your hair, brushed your teeth, and washed your face, and by 9:35 you were all set to go.

While you waited for Armin to text you when he pulled up, you went scrolling on twitter for your usual dose of stupid before you finally got that text.

-I'm here

~Cool, I'll be down in a sec.

As casually as you could, you walked out to the parking lot. You quickly recognized Armin's car, and with a big goofy smile, you headed over to him.

He unlocked the doors and like usual, you slid into the passenger seat.

"Hey…" Armin said, his voice slightly deeper from just waking up. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but decided against it.

"Hey, how's it going?" You asked awkwardly.

"Pretty good, almost forgot to sleep last night." He said.

You fiddled with a strand of your hair, feeling your cheeks heat up a little. "Yeah, I had trouble sleeping too." You replied.

"Hm." Armin hummed with a small smile on his face. He pulled the stick and backed out with his hand in your headrest. You leaned back a little closer and he chuckled.

Since you lived on campus, most things like corner stores and such weren't far away, which was pretty nice since you were feeling pretty hungry right now.

"You wearing the necklace I got you." Armin commented, breaking the silence as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Don't forget the jacket either." You added.

"They're cute on you." He said, looking straight ahead.

"How do you know that if you aren't even looking at me?" You asked.

"Well I am still driving, kinda. Plus, you look cute in anything so I don't really think this would be any different." He said, turning bright red.

You giggled at his awkwardness. So this is how he is in a new relationship.

You walked slightly ahead of him into the restaurant and ordered 3 pancakes and a bowl of grits.

Armin ordered sunnyside eggs, bacon, and 2 chocolate chip pancakes.

After that, you sat across from each other at a booth.

"So, what should we talk about first?" You started.

Armin grabbed at the nape of his neck. "Uh, I don't know. Maybe we should start with expectations?" He said.

"Okay, do you have any for me?" You asked.

"I don't really have too many right now. I really just don't wanna be cheated on, and I'd like date nights every once in a while, they don't always have to be out though. We could just like, watch a movie on the couch or something." He said. 

"What about you, y/n?" He asked.

You thought for a moment. "Cheating is a significant thing to me too, and also don't make me do anything I don't want to. I really don't like to be forced into anything." You said.

"Damn, I should've thought of that one." Armin joked.

You couldn't help but smile. "Well now you have something to add to your list." You said.

"You thinking of anything else?" He asked.

"Do you like pet names?" You asked.

"Yeah." He said.

"Me too, so we're good on that one. Any allergies?" You continued.

"Just peanuts." Armin replied.

"That doesn't surprise me at all." You said.

Armin laughed at that.

You didn't really talk much more about relationship stuff after that. You didn't need to throw everything out all at once, especially not in a  _ Waffle house.  _

For now, as you swing your held hands in the air in the parking lot, you were content knowing that he was your boyfriend and you were his girlfriend. 

You could ask more later.


	12. The Crew

You and Armin had been officially dating for a week now. It was a bright Saturday afternoon, and finally Eren had recovered enough to actually do stuff. 

Finally, you get to see the people Armin hangs around.

You hadn't heard too much, but you knew Armin knew a lot of people. He mainly was close with his friends from Childhood, Mikasa and Eren.

Mikasa sounded nice, but Eren sounded a bit strange. You weren't too sure about the other people though.

You all were just gonna hang out at the park up the street from the campus and have chips and soda, nothing fancy. 

Armin was going to be here to pick you up in about ten minutes and you were nearly ready to go.

You picked out a white t-shirt crop top, high waisted blue jeans, and white sneakers. Since you were going to the park, you kept your makeup minimal with just mascara and lip gloss, and you wore a white scrunchie on your right wrist just for decoration. You added the necklace that Armin gave you as well, you didn't wear it everyday, but you did just about every time you planned to see him.

You turned in the mirror and felt pretty good about yourself. You looked pretty cute today. 

Armin texted you that he was here, and you grabbed a small black purse from your closet, your phone, and a pair of headphones and you walked out of your suite.

You smiled as soon as you saw Armin wave to you from inside his car and he smiled back sweetly.

You slid into the passenger seat beside him and he put his arm around your shoulder, pulling you in for a brief, but sweet side hug.

He was warm and wearing casual clothes. A loose silver hoodie, navy blue sweatpants, and clean white shoes that matched yours in color.

He started to back out of the parking lot.

"So how's my favorite girl today?" He asked, looking at the road.

You rolled your eyes at him and chuckled. 

"Ugh stop it Armin." You said, still smiling.

Obviously you were just playing, you liked when he said silly things like that.

Armin rolled his eyes, copying you. "I can do that too you know." You joked.

You giggled. "Stop playing Armin."

He shrugged. "So are you gonna answer my question y/n?" He asked.

You held back from rolling your eyes this time, but wore a silly little smile on your face.

"I'm good, today's been pretty nice. I got a good nap in." You explained briefly.

Armin nodded, you could tell he was actually listening to you even though he was looking at the road.

"What about you Armin?" You asked right after.

"I'm doing okay, I'm mostly just excited for you to meet my friends." He said.

"Yeah me too, I've been thinking about it like, all day." You fiddled with your scrunchie.

"I'm kinda nervous actually." You admitted.

"Don't worry about it, they're gonna love you, and also anything weird that Eren does, does not reflect on me, just so you know." He said.

You nodded. "Noted. How weird does he get though?" You asked.

"Usually with new people it's not that bad. He'll probably just ride down the street in a shopping cart or something, or try to bury himself in the sandbox. It's really not a problem until he gets injuries of some kind." Armin explained. "He's a cool dude though, you've got nothing to worry about. Plus he's still healing, so he probably won't do that much."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it babe." You replied.

It accidentally slipped out, but you decided not to take it back.

Armin turned bright red as usual and cleared his throat. He laughed awkwardly.

"Okay." He said.

Armin pulled into the parking lot and you remembered a question that you forgot to ask.

"Oh! Who am I meeting again?" You asked.

"Um, just Eren and Mikasa. I didn't want you to be overwhelmed meeting everyone at once." Armin said.

"Oh okay, cool." You said.

Armin got out of the car and opened the door for you.

"Thanks." You said.

You wrapped your arms around his left arm and walked alongside him, leaning your head on him.

You walked through the gates of the park and spotted two people on the swings, it had to be them.

"Hey guys!" Armin called.

The young man, who was obviously Eren looked up and waved back at Armin.

You let go of Armin's arm and awkwardly followed him over to the swings.

"Armin! Hey y/n, nice to meet you." Mikasa who was on the swing farthest from you stuck her hand out and you shook it. 

"Nice to meet you too, you're Mikasa right?" You said.

"That's me." She said.

Mikasa was really pretty. She had short black hair, shiny grey eyes, a soft face, and a crooked smile.

"Hey, I'm Eren." He said, he gave you a head nod and you nodded back at him.

He seemed unassuming. He had long dark brown hair in a low bun and big friendly but fiery green eyes, tan skin, and slightly pointed ears.

You nodded back at him. "Hey."

Armin sat down on the wood chips and you stood close by. Everyone paused awkwardly until Mikasa spoke up. 

She suddenly smacked Eren's shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Ow! What gives?" Eren said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Eren, didn't you bring food?" She asked.

"Yeah, but it was supposed to be mine." Eren said harshly.

"Oh please, you have enough to feed a family." She held out her hands. "Come on, please?" She pleaded.

Eren rolled his eyes and reached for a bag behind him. "Fine, just don't touch my cool ranch doritos." He said.

"Can I have some too?" You spoke up.

Eren passed you a bag of cheetos. 

"Thanks." You replied.

Snacks seemed to solve everything. Once everyone had something to eat, the tension seemed to melt away and Eren got to talking.

Out of nowhere he snorted. "Ooh! Ooh! Did Armin tell you about that one time when we were seven?" He hooted.

You were immediately intrigued and briefly looked over to Armin with a mischievous face.

"No, he didn't tell me about that, actually." You said, turning back to Eren.

Eren snorted even harder. 

You were starting to wonder if he was okay.

"Oh my God, it's hilarious!" He said.

"Eren.." Armin groaned.

"What? It is!" He insisted.

"Come on, tell the story already." Mikasa urged him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Eren said.

You leaned a little closer to Eren and he started telling the story.

"So it was summer time and we were at Mikasa's house playing in her yard and stuff. Armin had a terrible haircut-"

"Hey!" Armin exclaimed, his cheeks already turning pink.

"It was though." Eren said.

Mikasa snickered behind her hand.

"Anyway, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. We were playing in Mikasa's yard and jumping on her trampoline. It was fine for a while, but at some point Me and Mikasa jumped at the same time that Armin had just come down and-"

Eren paused to keep himself from laughing, but there was still a big smile on his face.

"-and let me tell ya y/n, the look on his face priceless!" He said.

"It was like he saw his life flash before his eyes!" Mikasa commented.

"Um, I'm pretty sure I did." Armin jokingly interjected.

"Anyway, as soon as we landed, Armin flew out of the trampoline cage. I swear to God he was like ten feet in the air!" He exaggerated.

"Now you know it wasn't that high." Mikasa said.

"It sure looked like it though." Eren defended. "And just when Mikasa's dad came out of the house, he landed right on his back like 'bloop'!"

As soon as Eren made that sound effect, he started cackling so loudly that other people at the park started to stare.

"It's funnier looking back on it, but it actually really hurt." Armin said.

"He was fine though." Mikasa added.

You giggled a little with them, maybe it was funnier to them since they had been there, but you were a little out of the loop. Still it was nice hearing tales about Armin as a kid.

He didn't wanna show you his old haircut though.

After a couple hours of talking with Mikasa and Eren it started to get dark and right now it was your cue to go.

Armin walked with you back to the car and Eren and Mikasa walked back to the dorms after saying goodbye.

"Those guys are pretty cool." You said.

"I'm glad you think so, they're my best friends." Armin said.

"You guys have a lot of stories huh?" You asked.

"Yeah, over ten years of em." Armin replied.

You slid into the car when he opened the door and he walked around the front and sat in the driver's seat.

"I'd like to hear more, you guys are funny." You said.

"Lucky for you, I could spend hours talking about stupid stuff we did when we were kids." Armin said as he turned the car on.

"And maybe, we could make our own silly ones tell people." You suggested.

Armin chuckled. "I'd like that a lot."

"So you're really not gonna show me your old cut?" You asked teasingly.

"No." Armin said.

You giggled and decided not to press him further, you'd probably see it eventually. Until then, you have the memories of his bright red face and speech blunders to think of.


	13. Date night

It was ten at night on Sunday and you were texting Armin like usual, (mostly just sending each other memes), when he brought something to your attention.

-You know what y/n? I just realized something.

You were curious about what had had to say.

~What's up Armin?

-We've been officially dating for two weeks now, but we haven't actually gone out on a date!

"Oop." You said out loud. Probably a little bit too loud.

Pieck turned over in her bed, "Y/n is something wrong?" She asked, her voice was scratchy from tiredness.

"Nope. I'm all good over here Pieck." You said.

"Oh okay. Just try not to be too loud, I'm trying to go to sleep." She said.

"Okay, sorry. G'night Pieck." You said.

"Yeah, Goodnight y/n." She turned back around and went back to going to sleep and you went back to texting Armin.

~Oh my god we haven't? I hadn't even realized that!

-Yeah, we haven't really done anything yet besides meet my friends and go eat in the mornings.

-So I was wondering, would you wanna change that and go out with me soon?

You smiled brightly and gripped your phone tightly, rereading the text over again as you held in a screech.

~Yes!

-Okay cool. Should we start planning it now or later?

~It's not too late, so I'm okay with starting now.

-Okay cool.

It didn't take too long to figure out a plan that you both liked.

Less than thirty minutes later you decided that you'd go this Friday at six to the outdoor mall downtown. First you'd have dinner at _Niccolo's_ on the far side of the mall. After that you'd walk around the mall for fun and maybe get some dessert. It was simple, but it sounded like fun.

~Armin, how about I drive us this time?

-Sure, okay. I'll text you my dorm room number on the day of.

~See ya then?

-Yeah. Goodnight y/n. 👉👉

~👈👈Goodnight Armin. 

You rolled over on your back and laid your hands out. You smiled and looked up at the ceiling with glee.

_We're actually going out!_

You could barely calm yourself down enough to go to sleep, but when you finally did you still thought about how nice it was gonna be, and how you also would have to wait for about five days before all the excitement.

_Ugh! This week better go by fast!_

The week did not go by fast, in fact it felt like one of the longest weeks that you had ever experienced. Still, even though you were a bit anxious, you were very excited.

Once you got home from class, Armin texted you again.

-Are we still on for tonight?

~Yeah, I'm gonna take a nap before I actually get ready though.

-Okay cool. ☺️

~Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work?

-.... Maybe.

~🙄 Come on Armin, you better not get in trouble.

-😅 I won't, this place is pretty good about bathroom breaks.

~You're hiding out in the bathroom?

Armin took a minute to answer.

-Yeah.

~🤣 Dude, go back to work. We can talk later, we're going out tonight anyway.

-Okay fine, see you later y/n 👉👉

~👈👈 Bye!

You fell asleep for a good two hours, when you woke up it was 3:33 in the afternoon

That's a pretty good amount of time left before I have to go. You thought as you looked at the time on your phone.

First you hopped in the shower for about half an hour and made sure you were all good and moisturized.

After that, you picked your cutest semi-formal outfit and got dressed.

Lastly, you did your make up and painted your nails with clear polish, and by the time you were done, it was 5:56.

Not bad. You thought.

You grabbed a small black purse and your phone and put your shoes on. You took one last look in the mirror and headed out of your room.

"Lookin' good y/n." Ymir complimented you casually as she ate some pretzel sticks.

Ymir's compliment took Historia's attention away from her phone and her jaw dropped as soon as she saw you.

"Oh my God! Y/n you look amazing!" She ran up to you and gave you a hug.

"Thanks guys, really appreciate it. My ride's about to be here, so I'll see you later." You said with a smile, feeling even more sure of yourself.

Ymir raised her right eyebrow with a cheeky smirk, "Your ride?" She joked.

Historia covered her mouth and her eyes were wide open. She was clearly trying not to laugh.

You laughed through your nose and rolled your eyes. "Shut up."

You turned away towards the door.

"Have fun y/n!" Historia called after you.

"Yeah, see ya later y/n." Ymir added.

"Bye guys!" You replied cheerfully, and with that, you were out of the suite.

You slid into the driver's seat of your car and texted Armin before starting it.

~Armin, what's your dorm number?

-908, and I'm on the third floor.

~Cool, omw.

You used the shortest route you knew over to the other side of campus, excitedly smiling, checking yourself out in the rear-view mirror at the stop signs and tapping your fingers on the steering wheel.

You pulled into the parking lot at 6:05 and saw a familiar head of blonde hair looking over a balcony on the third floor. You parked the car and texted him.

~I'll be up there in a minute

It was kind of funny to see him read your text, you couldn't really see his expression well from inside the car, but you're pretty sure that he smiled.

_He's such a cutie._

-Okay, ring the doorbell when you get there.

You shut the car door and walked up the stairs. At least there weren't that many of them, but it was still kind of annoying. You scanned the hallway and finally found room 908. You rang the doorbell and as soon as you did you heard shuffling noises and Eren yelling at Mikasa for stepping on his toe. You smiled, trying not to laugh so that none of them would hear you through the door, and after a moment of silence, the door finally unlocked.

"Took you long enou- wow!" 

You were totally stunned, instead of finishing your quip you froze in place looking at Armin.

His hair was slicked back and to the side and left loose at the ends exposing his forehead, he had a small blue diamond stud in his left ear, a plain white shirt with a black leather jacket over it that was slightly big on him, black dress pants, and black leather ankle boots with square heels that were three inches at most. He was really rocking the look.

He blushed bright red and you shook yourself out of your trance, regaining your composure to speak. "You look so good Armin!" You complimented him enthusiastically.

He smiled and brought you closer by putting his arm around your lower back. "Thanks you look good too." He gave you a kiss on the cheek and it took everything to stop you from squealing.

You cupped his face and kissed him back on the lips briefly, "Thanks babe." You said, still close to his face. He chortled and tilted his head in your hands.

You almost forgot that you still had somewhere to be until Eren spoke up in the background."Are you guys going yet? Me and Mikasa wanna start our movie marathon." He interrupted.Mikasa shook her head at him with a slight smile forming on her face.

Armin huffed and smiled back at them. "My bad guys, didn't know we were interrupting you." He joked.You rolled your eyes at them.

"Come on, let's go, we don't wanna be late, our reservation's at 6:30." You said.

"Yeah okay." Armin agreed. "See you later guys!" Armin called out to Eren and Mikasa.

Eren called back, "Don't forget the-"

Armin cut him off, "Yeah yeah, I'm not gonna forget. You asked me four times already."

Finally, Armin shut and locked the door and you two were finally alone.

Comfortablely silent, you walked down the stairs to your car. Armin slid into the passenger seat next to you and you drove off soon after.

The Creed Hill Mall was fifteen minutes away and you and Armin strolled into Niccolo's at 6:20 with ten minutes to spare.

"I'll go check in at the front desk." Armin said, pointing with his thumb. 

"Okay." You replied.

Armin turned on his heels and walked up front with purpose. When he was far away enough for you to see all of him from behind, you couldn't help but notice that those pants he was wearing, despite being black, were really accentuating his butt and thighs. He had a really nice shape to him too. It took you a moment to realize you were staring.

You sure were doing a lot of staring tonight, get a grip.

You shook your head and looked at the back of his head instead, only to find yourself staring at his ass again.

_I mean, a little look can't hurt. Wait, does he look at my ass when I'm in front of him?_

You decided not to think about that because you sure weren't asking him about it.

Lucky for you, Armin came back and sat beside you and you were no longer left alone with your thoughts.

"They said they'll have a seated in about five minutes." Armin said.

"Cool, we won't have to wait long." You said.

It sure felt long though, you wanted to sit down and eat already! Armin seemed content though, he sat with his right leg crossed straight of his left with his foot out with his left arm stretched across the head of the bench and scrolling on his phone with his right hand.

He looked even better when he was relaxed.

"Arlert?" A waitress called out.

Armin immediately popped his head up and said back to the waitress, "That's us." 

"Follow me." She said.

You got up first and Armin walked beside you.

You ended up being seated somewhere in the middle of the restaurant at a table for two. Armin scooted your chair back for you to sit and then walked around to his side of the table.

You scooted your chair up a little closer to the table.

"Thanks." You said courteously.

"No problem." He replied.

You immediately got to looking at the menu and looked for things you might want.

"Y/n, do you want anything to drink?" He asked.

"Sure, hold on a second." You said.

You looked at the drinks section and picked out something that sounded good.

"Ooh, we should get strawberry champagne! Uh, the non alcoholic one since we've still got stuff to do." You replied.

"Sounds good to me." Armin agreed.

After a couple of minutes a waiter came over, he was blonde and looked about the same age as you and Armin, maybe a little bit younger.

"Hi, my name is Colt and I'll be your waiter this evening. What can I get you?" He said.

"Nice to meet you Colt, can we get a bottle of the non-alcoholic strawberry champagne?" Armin asked. Colt immediately started writing it down.

"Oh, and breadsticks too please!" You added.

"Okay! Anything else?" Colt asked.

Armin looked at you and you shook your head. 

"We're good, thanks." Armin answered.

"Okay, I'll be back soon." Colt said. He turned on his heels and walked back towards the kitchen.

"He seemed nice." You said, still looking at the menu. "Yeah." Armin said.

You had to get him talking, though you were fine with silence, silence wasn't what you came for.

"So, how's your major going?" You asked.

"Pretty good. I almost forgot to tell you, but I do actually have a performance next month." He blushed and grabbed the nape of his neck, "It'd, uhm, it'd be really cool if you could come to it." He said shyly. A huge bright smile lit up your face. "You mean I'd get to hear you sing?" You asked.

"Yeah. If you want, I mean." He replied.

"Of course I want to! Just give me the details." You said. "It's on October 25th at nine." He said.

You quickly typed it out into your calendar and turned back to him.

"Is there a dress code?" You asked.

"Semi formal." He said.

"This is awesome Armin. I can't wait to see you on stage. You're gonna be great!" You cheered.

"Thanks." Armin replied, still blushing.

Colt suddenly came back to the table. "Here's the champagne and the bread sticks. I'll be back in about half an hour, enjoy!" He said.

"Thanks." You said.

"Thanks." Armin said too.

Armin poured the champagne and you gave him a few bread sticks.

You struck your glasses together and you quickly downed your drink while Armin only took a few sips of his. It was the same with the bread sticks too. Armin sure didn't eat like that at Sheetz. Maybe it was just the setting.

After getting food though, it wasn't as awkward. You talked to Armin about a writing project that you started and he started telling you about some of the songs he and the choir would be singing. He was adorable when he talked about something he was passionate about. His eyes lit up, he smiled brightly, and his skin seemed to glow too. You liked to sit back and just watch and listen.

Your conversation was interrupted though, Colt came back. You both ordered your food and he went away again.

"I forget how long food takes at restaurants. I've eaten like five breadsticks and I'm still hungry!" You said.

Armin chortled. "Yeah, they like to keep you waiting I guess."

You nodded. "I mean, I do the same thing, so I can't be mad." You joked.

Armin nearly spat out his champagne laughing. "Really y/n?" He laughed.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." You said, trying not to laugh loudly and draw attention to the two of you.

Armin shook his head at you. "Sure, you couldn't." He said.

Colt came back surprisingly fast this time around and you held back a "Finally!" until he was out of earshot. Armin had ordered some chicken alfredo with mushrooms and it looked so good you were almost envious. "Armin, can I get some of that?" You asked.Armin's eyes opened wide and he put his lips into a straight line. "Nope, this is mine." He said."Aww, please?" You asked again.

"Nope, eat your own food y/n." He said as he tied a napkin around his neck. "Damn!" You whispered in defeat.

You ordered something you had never tried before and you were pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.

"Woah! Armin, you gotta try this." You said.

You offered him a fork of it and he took a bite. 

His eyes opened wide in surprise.

"That's pretty good, could I get some more?" He asked. You grinned mischievously at him. "Only if you give me some of that alfredo." You said.

Armin sighed in defeat. "Alright, you win y/n." He said. "Yes!" You cheered as he set some aside for you on another plate.

The food and champagne were gone quickly. You decided to split the bill evenly and Armin packed up the leftovers as you left a good tip for Colt.

At 8:33, the two of you walked giddily out of the doors of _Niccolo's_ side by side.

"Let's take these to the car and then we can go walking around the mall." Armin said.

"Yeah okay." You replied.

You stepped up to the curb with Armin and turned towards the rest of the mall. "So y/n, where do you want to go first?" Armin asked. You looked around for a second before deciding. You pointed to a shop nearby. "Let's go to Queen's rolled ice cream, I heard it's pretty good." You said. "Oh, Eren got banned from there once." Armin said nonchalantly. You jerked your head over toward him in surprise. "He what? How?" You asked.

Armin shrugged. "I don't know, he didn't say." He said. "Maybe I should ask him later, it was probably something stupid." You said.

"Yeah probably." He chuckled.

You pulled him by his hand towards the ice cream place. "Come on, let's go!"

Getting ice cream only took a few minutes. Armin got cookies and cream topped with hot fudge, mini marshmallows, and three pocky sticks.

You got vanilla ice cream with crushed graham crackers and toasted marshmallows.

You tried each other's food just like you did at Niccolo's and started off to go somewhere else.

"Since I picked that time it's your turn Armin." You said.

"Umm. I think we should just walk around for a little bit." He said.

"Okay cool." You replied. Maybe you could find somewhere cool to go while wandering around, plus it may not be the best idea to go into stores with food.

"So Armin, where'd you get that jacket. It's pretty cool." You asked in between spoonfuls of slowly melting ice cream.

"Oh this? I don't know, it's actually Mikasa's. She let me borrow it." He said.

"Really? That's cool of her." You said.

"That's just Mikasa, she's really sweet." Armin said. "She actually asks about you all the time." He added.

"Seriously?" You asked.

"Yep, she thought you were pretty cool and would like to be friends, but she's a little shy." He said.

"Just give her my number then, I wouldn't mind talking to her." You said.

"Will do." Armin replied.

You threw your trash away and ran ahead of Armin towards the brick structures that hold the trees and you walked on top of them. Armin followed and you jumped down off of the shorter end. You found yourselves in front of a photo booth. You looked at each other and from your faces there was a clear mutual agreement.

You took a ton of silly pictures together and you looked at a few of them on the way out.

"Oh my god, my nostrils look huge!" Armin laughed, looking at a picture where you had both pushed your noses up.

"My face in this one!" You exclaimed. In said picture you were in between poses and you sort of looked like pepe the frog.

Armin snorted loudly and you both laughed even harder.

You put the pictures in your purse and it was off to the next place.

At the end of the night you and Armin sat on a bench in front of the fountain as it sprayed water high into the air. You leaned your head on Armin's shoulder, and he leaned his head against yours. You were starting to get tired, but your heart still raced from Armin being so close to you.

"The Mall's about to close, we should be getting home soon." Armin said quietly. You sighed and closed your eyes. "I kind of don't want to." You said. Armin chuckled and bounced your head a little bit. "You had fun?" He asked. You looked up at him and he looked back at you. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun." You said. "Me too." He put his hand on your jaw and leaned in for a kiss. You leaned in and kissed him back deeply, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. He let go and rested his forehead on your shoulder. 

He stood up after a moment and held his hand out to you. 

"Come on y/n, let's get going. I'll drive us back." He said.You took his hand and stood close to him. "Okay." You replied. 

The two of you walked back across the mall hip to hip with your arms wrapped around each other's waists. You smiled, you were definitely going to want to do this again soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! A chapter that's (over) 3,000 words! 🎉

**Author's Note:**

> Only one of us on this account is doing this fanfiction, I go by Red.  
> Sorry if it sucks, this is my first time doing an "X reader" fanfic, so I'm a little nervous. I hope you like it and thanks for reading!


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